Hard CC Skill Reference Guide By Profession

This reference guide breaks down the hard crowd control (CC) skills for each of the nine professions in Guild Wars 2. Hard CC skills inflict direct damage to a target’s Defiance Bar (also known as the “Break Bar”), whereas soft CC skills deal damage over time. We chose to focus on hard CC skills because they are the most effective at quickly draining an enemy’s Defiance Bar when time is of the essence. There are many bosses in GW2 with Defiance Bars that must quickly be depleted if players are to successfully defeat them. The goal of this guide is to serve as a reference for new and experienced players that may not be aware of all the hard CC skills available to their classes. For a general overview of the Defiance Bar you may want to check out our “Break-bar Combat Tips” article.

Defiance Bar Damage Calculation (Hard CC)

Effect

Multiplier

Freeze

duration * 60

Stone

duration * 150

Ward

150 per pass

All other effects:

duration * 100

-Daze

^

-Pull

^

-Knockback

^

-Knockdown

^

-Launch

^

-Stun

^

-Transform

^

**While most of the damage calculations in the tables below are accurate to the best of our knowledge, there are several skills where precise damage data was unavailable. For those skills we have provided an educated estimate in-line with similar skills, with conservative approximations. Much of the data was sourced from the official Guild Wars 2 Wiki.

Hard CC Skills By Profession

The following tables list the various hard CC skills of each profession organized by effect type. The damage calculation represents the amount of damage that a skill inflicts upon a target’s defiance bar. We have also provided our recommended hard CC skills based on damage and practicality. For these recommendations we have chosen to exclude underwater skills. Although some of our recommendations may not be practical for general play, we tried to select the skills that provide a high level of Defiance Bar damage while still remaining reasonably accessible and without compromising build quality.